We have heard all sorts of opinions about the 2020 resolution. You remember, it's the one General Convention adopted last summer which would double the size of the church by 2020. Reactions to that resolution have been expressed on these pages, ranging from "it won't work" to "let's do it." It's refreshing to see someone is bold enough to actually go ahead and do something about it.

The Rt. Rev. William E. Smalley, Bishop of Kansas, has put forth what he calls "a bold vision" for his diocese. That is, the diocese will grow to 20,000 baptized members by 2010. It won't be easy. Bishop Smalley cites the following baptized membership numbers for Kansas:

1989 - 16,889

1995 - 14,773

1999 - 14,383

What interested me in Bishop Smalley's strategy is his emphasis on boldness. He noted the word is used 15 times in the New Revised Standard Version of the New Testament to describe the church and its members. "It definitely is a key characteristic of the New Testament church," he wrote in his diocesan newspaper, Plenteous Harvest.

"We are hesitant to live into this today," he continued. "Rather ... I was hesitant to apply this characteristic to the church in our time." It crossed his mind that perhaps no one in the diocese would be willing to accept it.

And how has the diocese reacted to his bold vision?

"I expected it to really shock people," Bishop Smalley said in a telephone interview. "Instead, it's been positive. It's a radical turnaround for us, especially because so many of our young people move away to other communities outside the diocese. It's a giant step."

The radical turnaround affects the bishop's visitations. Instead of a business-as-usual visit to churches to confirm or baptize, he's changed his routine and is emphasizing mission. He still preaches and teaches and celebrates the Eucharist, but there's more.

"I do power-point presentations," he said. "That's computer talk, folks. He goes to a church, sets up his computer and makes a presentation so all present can see what he wants to emphasize, on a screen or a wall.

"I talk about what this will require from us," he said. "I talk about what we need to do, and how it requires change in the office of the bishop.

"Several of my presentations have been in small congregations. People have been very positive."

He also meets with vestries and other lay leaders to discuss the parish's role in the new mission strategy.

One would naturally expect some unhappiness if the bishop did not confirm or baptize while visiting congregations but instead decided to administer those sacraments on a convocation-wide basis.

"Some people really miss the visitation the way it used to be," he said. "A man said to me that for something like this to work 'it takes the time and dedication of the bishop, and I want to thank you for what you're doing'."

Bishop Smalley admits that some of the strategy he's using has been borrowed from the initiatives being used in the Diocese of Texas, as is the second part of his bold vision: "We in the Diocese of Kansas will be a community of miraculous expectation."

And so the people in the Diocese of Kansas, led by their bishop, are to be bold in their Christian lives. They are to proclaim the gospel with boldness. "We need to cease being a regulatory agency and start being a resource," Bishop Smalley said, instead of doing business as usual.

"It's a new day for the church," Bishop Smalley said. "It's the most exciting thing I've seen in my 35 years in the church."

David Kalvelage, executive editor